This invention relates to cigarette packs with rounded corners, and more particularly to apparatus for forming innerframes for such packs.
There is increasing interest in cardboard cigarette packs with rounded corners. Many consumers prefer the sturdiness of cardboard packs, and rounded corners have such additional advantages as giving the pack a better feel in the hand and reducing wear on the garment, handbag, or whatever else the pack is carried in.
Square-cornered cardboard packs often have a lid which is hinged to the back of the pack so that the pack can be opened by pivoting the lid back and then reclosed by pivoting the lid forward again. A cardboard innerframe is typically provided between the foil-wrapped cigarettes and the cardboard outer container. This innerframe usually has a broad-based U shape when viewed from the top of the pack. The base of this U shape is at the front of the pack, and the two legs of the U are at the respective sides of the pack. This innerframe increases the strength of the pack and, by interfering somewhat with the hinged lid as it is opened and closed, helps to keep the lid neatly, firmly, and fully closed except when deliberately opened by the consumer.
It has been found that U-shaped innerframes of the type described above do not work as well in packs with rounded corners. Perhaps because of the rounded corners of the outer container, a U-shaped innerframe does not fit as firmly or immovably in rounded corner packs. Without such a firm and immovable fit, the innerframe does not strengthen the pack as well or operate as well to keep the hinged lid firmly and completely closed.
In view of the foregoing, it is an object of this invention to provide apparatus for producing improved innerframes for cigarette packs with rounded corners.
It is another object of this invention to provide apparatus for producing innerframes having a rounded-corner C shape rather than a U shape.